


Trust: A "Yesterday’s Enterprise" Story

by Orangeblossom (edwardsmom)



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 12:40:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5456840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edwardsmom/pseuds/Orangeblossom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the alternate universe of <i>Yesterday's Enterprise</i>, Tasha Yar and Data have become good friends. This story looks at how they came to trust each other and build that friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust: A "Yesterday’s Enterprise" Story

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Thanks to Graham Gilligan, who gave me a much-needed lesson in the physics of spaceflight, and why we all need inertial dampers.
> 
> The PG-13 version of this story is on fanfiction.net, but this version came first.

_**Military Log, Stardate 41168.3.** This Galaxy-class battleship _Enterprise_ has barely taken on its full crew when we are asked by Starfleet to prove our mettle. We have taken on board at Starbase 114 an intercept scout, a new class of vessel developed for use in reconnaissance missions deep into Klingon territory. The scout has warp capability but it can also use liquid fuel for propulsion, a sort of "stealth mode" since Klingon sensors are attuned to look for the sophisticated energy signatures of impulse engines and warp drives. It has minimal armament and shielding capabilities, but the most sophisticated sensor and recording equipment available. It's sleek, stripped down, built for surveillance and evasion, not battle. Chief of operations and second-in-command Lieutenant Commander Data, with his information processing capacity and superior piloting skills, and chief tactical and weapons officer Lieutenant Tasha Yar, the top Klingon strategist and armament expert on the front lines, have been selected to take the scout, christened the _Cixous_ , for its first mission._

***

Captain Picard tugged at his silver phaser sash absently and reactivated the recorder. "Captain's personal log." He paused, remembering the look on his new first officer's face as he'd left the ready room. "Perhaps, in another lifetime, Will Riker and I could have been friends, instead of having to play this adversarial, devil's advocate game with each other. He's right, of course. This isn't the time to ask a new, unseasoned crew to undertake something like a reconnaissance mission in the heart of Klingon territory."

Picard sighed. "But during war there never _is_ a good time. And Will was right when he said Starfleet had no business sending such young people into battle situations. Yes, they are the best in their classes and at their specialities, but they don't have any time on the lines. But I have no choice. Someone has to take the mission, and the computer concurred that the best people for the job are a young, brilliant tactical officer and the only android in Starfleet, neither of whom had shown that they knew how to get along with other people, that they are good mission material. The android, although a walking encyclopedia, lacks in the social graces. And the tactical officer has an almost hairtrigger temper." He touched the intercom.

"This is the captain. Lieutenant Yar. Lieutenant Commander Data. Report to my ready room immediately."

Picard noticed the contrasts between the two officers as they faced him: Yar's stance was tense, energy running palpably through her as if she were a live wire, while Data held himself with perfectly correct posture, calm and composed.

After he had outlined their mission, Yar pointed out anxiously, wanting to prove herself to the captain, "Sir, I'm a class-10 rated pilot. I can take this mission by myself, there's no need for Commander Data — "

"Commander Data is rated class-12," Picard told her. "He has the skill and the reflexes necessary to perform the second-by-second compensations called for during evasive maneuvers." When he saw that she might object further, he added, "In any case, a Human could not withstand the potential G-stresses in such a craft and remain conscious to do the necessary piloting. But Commander Data can."

She swallowed her disappointment — she hadn't wanted him to think her weak for not doing the mission solo — and her trepidation at flying a mission with the android. She looked over at Data, who appeared unperturbed by her outburst, and then back at Picard. "Aye, sir."

***

Yar reported to the shuttlecraft bay with her equipment case and wearing the special flight suit designed to help her with the worst of the G-stresses and found Data, dressed in a similar flight suit, already checking out the scout. She took a deep breath and strode onto the hangar deck, unlimbering her case and taking out a tricorder to do her own scan.

Data noted what she was doing and commented mildly, "It is not necessary for you to run a diagnostic, as I am already — "

"I'd prefer to do my own scan, thanks," she cut him off.

He persisted, "But if we are both doing the same scan, with virtually identical equipment, I see no reason that — "

She turned to him, exasperated. "Do I have to explain everything I do to you? I've been on other missions where even triple redundancies didn't pick up something that should have been noted. We're going into unknown territory with an unproven piece of equipment, Commander. I'd like my chances of coming back alive to remain as high as possible."

"But surely you realize that, as an android, it is impossible for me to ignore even the slightest divergence from the scout's normal parameters."

She circled the small craft, checking her readings. "Yes, I realize that, Commander. And I won't dispute your abilities in that regard. What I'm talking about is — intuition, knowing that something appears right but doesn't feel right."

The android frowned. "Yes. Intuition is not part of my programming." Then he brightened as a thought occurred to him. "Perhaps you will be able to educate me with respect to intuition during our trip."

She looked sideways at him and then back at her tricorder screen. "Yeah," she said noncommittally.

He finished with his tricorder and closed it as she finished with her own scan and nodded.

"Okay, let's do our pre-flight," she said, and palmed the dorsal hatch open. As he got ready to climb up top, Data observed,

"I sense a level of discomfort when you are around me."

She whirled on him. "Look, Commander, I didn't ask for this assignment! I would have volunteered to do it all by myself, but it wasn't my call to make so let's just do our jobs, okay?"

"As you wish."

She climbed up the scout and in, taking her place at the right-hand science and information console. He quietly followed her and sat down to her left, at the navigation, helm and defense console.

As they did their pre-flight checks, Yar's conscience got the better of her. She knew she wasn't being fair to him and yet she didn't know how to rectify all the anger buried beneath her words. It gnawed at her and the silence built between them until finally she turned to him and said, "Listen — " but when he turned his attention to her, she suddenly didn't know what to say.

"I am listening," he told her patiently.

"My behavior was uncalled for," she blurted. "I'm sorry."

"Your assumption is that my feelings were hurt but, since I am an android, I have no feelings to hurt." He inclined his head. "However, I accept your apology in the spirit it was intended." She breathed a small sigh of relief, but he continued, "I regret that you are uncomfortable working with me, but I understand the reaction. It is often difficult for Humans to work with artificial life forms as — "

"Wait — what?" she asked. "Commander, did you think — did you think this was about your being an android and my not — " When from his expression it became clear that was exactly what he had thought, she actually grinned. "Commander, you couldn't be more wrong!"

"Then my appearance, my very fact of being does not disturb you?"

"That was the farthest thing from my mind, Commander," she assured him. "I don't think I've given your appearance half a thought since I came aboard, and I'm not the kind of person to contemplate questions of metaphysics, believe me!"

"But I have made a study of Human body language and other verbal and physical cues and I believe I read your discomfort around me correctly, did I not?" he asked.

"Yes, you did. But it wasn't what you thought." She looked away, wondering how much she should tell him, but realized she owed him an explanation after the assumption he'd been laboring under all this time. "Commander, I came from a world where you simply couldn't trust anybody. And you learned to survive by relying only on yourself, no one else. It goes against every instinct to put my life in someone else's hands." She looked at him. "That's why I made such a big deal at the briefing about my pilot rating, about why you were needed on the _Enterprise_. I didn't trust you, because I don't trust anyone."

Data assimilated what she had told him with what was on her service record, and realized that she wasn't trying to spare his nonexistent feelings, but was telling the truth. He looked seriously at her. "Has that changed?" he asked.

She looked away again. "I don't know."

He nodded, and turned back to the helm and navigation console. "Launch in 35 seconds," he announced.

Yar opened a comm line. " _Enterprise_ , this is the _Cixous_. Launch in...30 seconds."

" _Cixous_ , aye," Commander Riker's voice acknowledged. "Good hunting."

"Thank you, sir."

Data eased the scout out of the launch bay at one-quarter impulse. Even at that speed Yar could feel every pitch and yaw and knew that no matter what Data's piloting skill, it was going to be one rough trip.

"Course plotted and laid in," Data said. She acknowledged with a tight nod of her head.

When they had left the _Enterprise_ far enough behind, Data reported, "Switching to 'stealth mode.'" He scanned his readouts as he did so, and made some rapid adjustments. "I will need to take the inertial dampers offline, Lieutenant, while I accelerate the scout in this mode. I will try to keep the acceleration time to a minimum, but — "

Yar knew he was trying to warn her that she might lose consciousness, and gripped her chair arms as she mentally steeled herself. "Let's go, then, Commander."

Incredible pressure forced her back in her seat, and she fought to keep her eyes open. The starfield blurred and burst, then narrowed to a thin line of light surrounded by blackness, and then there was only the dark.

***

"...Lieutenant?" She blinked, tried to focus. The stars were standing still in the viewport. She looked to her left, and saw that Data was pointing a tricorder and Feinberger at her.

"I'm fine," she said impatiently, turning to check her screens and readouts, but the android placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Please let me determine that this is the case conclusively," he requested in a mild voice, and she sat still. He carefully checked his readings. "Are you experiencing any unusual visual input?"

She glanced down at her console and read the information there easily. "No. Vision normal."

"Auditory?"

She concentrated. "Just normal ship sounds."

He continued to consult the tricorder readouts, and finally pronounced, "All vital signs are reading normal for a weightless environment."

Grateful, Yar started calibrating her instruments. "How long were you trying to bring me out of it?" she asked.

Data put the tricorder and Feinberger away. "You regained consciousness approximately three minutes after we dropped out of warp."

"What did I miss?"

"An uneventful trip. We flew a mostly straight-line course to our present position. Returning to the _Enterprise_ will present the more difficult challenge."

She nodded and checked a wall readout. "We're getting some telemetry." She fed the readings to the navigation console.

"Changing course," Data confirmed, "two three five mark two eight."

Yar was pushed back in her seat by the change in speed and vector and fought to keep her hands on her controls. "Shields?" she asked.

"One hundred percent and holding."

As they neared the center of the telemetry readings, they came to a dead stop and Yar activated their focused sensors. Working quickly, they collected as much information as they could, the both of them so in tune with the instruments and procedures they barely had to speak to each other, as if by telepathy they told each other what had to be done, and when they discovered they should go even deeper into enemy territory to get a crucial piece of information, there were no questions, just two people in absolute synchronicity who knew what their job was and getting it done.

All their information collected, Data carefully proceeded to guide the scout to a safe distance from their previous position so the Klingons wouldn't pick up its warp signature when it returned to the _Enterprise_.

Yar, with nothing to do since Data was doing all the piloting, essayed gamely, "So, Commander..."

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

After a pause, she admitted, a little sheepish, "I'm sorry. I meant to make small talk but I have no idea what to say!"

"Small talk — inconsequential conversation meant to fill a socially awkward silence or to put another person at their ease."

"Pretty much."

His expression became intrigued. "I have not had the opportunity to speak of meteorological phenomena with anyone previously."

She had to think about that for a little, and when she realized he was referring to the standard opening gambit of discussing the weather, she smiled at the oddly precise way he had of expressing himself. "Neither have I, which I guess is the problem." She spoke lightly, but his gaze was intent on her. "You seem surprised, Commander."

"I would think that, as a Human among other Humans, you would have ample opportunity for inconsequential conversation."

"You're forgetting what this particular Human's background is." She watched, fascinated despite herself, as his gaze turned inward as if accessing and processing information. When he focused on her again, it was her turn to be surprised.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he said.

"For what?"

"For wanting to make small talk, whether your intention was to put me at my ease or to end an awkward silence. Thank you for considering me worth the effort."

He had spoken matter-of-factly, as if making a report, and yet she felt strangely touched by his words. She'd always been so focused on outrunning her past, on trying to make it in Starfleet, she'd never found within herself the time or the inclination for small talk. And yet she'd somehow found them now, with of all people her commanding officer. There must be something about Lieutenant Commander Data...but she wasn't quite ready to figure out what it was.

"I think," she said slowly, meeting his bright-eyed gaze, "we're both trying to find a way to fit in, is all. I hope you don't mind my experimenting with you."

Before she could be thoroughly embarrassed by her choice of words, he answered with the same honesty, "No, I do not. Is it acceptable to you if the experimentation is reciprocal, Lieutenant?"

"Of course, Commander."

He nodded, and then said in a passable imitation of nonchalance, "Nice weather we are having, is it not?"

She broke into a sudden grin. "Especially in space...!"

When they were performing their pre-flights before going into warp, she reached to adjust the astrogator at the same time he did and they inadvertently grabbed each other's hands. She dropped his hand hastily and avoided his eyes as they finished their checks.

Then he turned to her and asked, "Ready?"

She looked into his yellow eyes and deliberately took his hand in hers. She hoped he understood what she intended the gesture to mean, that although it went against her every instinct to put her trust in him, she trusted him now. "Ready," she affirmed.

He held her hand tight in his and put the ship into a high-g turn, pressing them both back into their seats, and Yar's hand slipped from his as she lost consciousness. Data took them safely home.

***

Data went to answer the door to his quarters and found Yar standing in the corridor. She began without preamble, "Commander, if you've got the preliminary — " She suddenly stopped herself.

When she didn't continue, Data prompted politely, "If I have the preliminary what, Lieutenant?"

She smiled at her own expense and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Commander, it's just that...what's that music you're playing? I've never heard anything like it."

"Ah. Wolfgang Mozart, a Terran composer. What you hear is his _Symphony in G Minor_ , the allegro con brio movement, which has a moderately challenging part for the violin section."

" _Symphony in G Minor_. I'll have to remember that," she said shyly, never having been affected by music to the point of being distracted from her duties. She cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Uh, anyway, I just came by to see if you'd done a preliminary analysis on using controlled oscillations in the Cochrane coils as a possible offensive measure?"

"I am just completing that analysis now." He gestured for her to enter.

She stepped in briskly, then stopped short just inside the door when she realized she'd never been inside the android's quarters before. He had the larger officer's cabin with a sitting room, but instead of a sleeping area, he had installed a complete library computer station.

"Damn," she breathed. "I should have thought of that!"

He turned, already halfway to the main console. "To what are you referring?"

"Your set-up. You don't need to sleep, so you take out the bed and put in a workstation! I never have guests, so I should take out the living area and put in tactical repeater screens so I always know ship's status even if I'm not on the bridge!"

"You never have guests, Lieutenant?" the android asked, curious.

She shook her head. "Not enough time; too much to do." She spied the violin and bow laid carefully on top of the low table in front of the sofa and, in spite of herself, walked to it, only just stopping herself from touching it by folding her arms across her chest. She looked at Data, who calmly watched her. "Do you play?" she asked unnecessarily.

"I play in order to attempt to understand human creativity. I have some facility, but nothing approaching feeling, much less genius."

Yar seemed hardly to hear his explanation as the recorded violins and horns, repeating and augmenting the passage that had caught her attention when she'd walked in, reached a swirling, abandoned crescendo and she unconsciously held her breath, a smile lighting her face. As the movement ended she looked at Data a little blankly, having forgotten why she was even there.

"Would you like for me to start the movement from the beginning?" he offered.

She tried to collect her thoughts and took a deep breath. "Um — wait, that's not...I mean, yes, I'd like to hear the music again, but — the preliminary report!" she remembered suddenly. "Do you — "

The android went around to the working side of the console and checked. "Yes. I have rough estimates and working models ready now."

"Good," she said, relieved, offering him the tricorder she'd been clutching. He plugged it in and downloaded the information for her.

"Would you like to hear the recording from the beginning?" he offered again. "Or do you need to leave?"

She didn't answer right away. "Do you...play along with the music?"

"It is one way to practice, to imitate the great violin masters and try to understand their techniques and what made them unique and great."

She marveled, "When do you find the time?"

"You pointed out yourself that I do not need sleep," he said, and she nodded, thoughtful. "However, there is no reason that you could not combine activities so as to optimize the time you do have."

"Such as?"

"Listening to music while you work on your report," he said, rising and gesturing for her to take his place at the library computer.

Surprised and pleased, she complied shyly, realizing what he was offering her. She sat down to go over the figures, and Data started the music and began to play.

At the end of the movement, Data turned and looked at her expectantly.

"That was wonderful, Commander," she told him sincerely. "Thank you for sharing that with me. I never thought — " She stopped.

"Please do not truncate your sentences when speaking with me, Lieutenant. Please speak freely. I cannot be offending by anything you say."

"You can't, but I can," she explained. "I'm just embarrassed at how little I used to think of you, Commander, and how generous you've been this evening...how generous you've always been. I'm really sorry. Can we start again?"

"If you feel it is necessary for our working relationship to continue to develop satisfactorily — "

"Yes, I do."

"Then let us start again."

She stood and extended her hand. He took it in his and gripped it firmly. "Off-duty, please call me Tasha."

"Please call me Data. And I hope you will feel free to come by my quarters at any time if you would like to listen to music or to my playing."

"Really?"

"Really."

***

On their second mission, when they were set to return, she again held her hand out to him. He looked at her as he took her hand and she explained, a little embarrassed, "We held hands before and made it back safe. That's how superstitions start."

He brightened. "Ah! A practice or behavior resulting from a false conception of causation. I have never been present at the inception of one," he told her, taking her hand in his.

She grinned at him. "And we have to do it every time or we won't make it back safely."

***

Picard pounded his fists once against the arms of his command chair before he levered himself up and stalked to the tactical station behind him, the only outward sign of frustration he'd shown since Data and Yar had failed to return almost five hours ago from their latest reconnaissance mission.

"This is the last time," Picard muttered as he crossed behind the tactical console. "The last time we use a manned scout to get us front line information — it's too damned dangerous!"

Riker bit down on his impulse to point out that Yar and Data had survived over a dozen such missions and, not for the first time, he wondered how Picard had drawn a command like the _Enterprise_. He could see that in peacetime, Picard would have been the man to captain an exploration vessel, he had the heart, the imagination, to do so. But in a time of war, as now, with the Federation fighting a war it had never wanted with the Klingons, Picard cared too much. People died during war, that was what war was about, you just tried to keep the number of deaths as low as possible. Picard felt death, every death, too keenly to be a captain. He had often made decisions that directly contradicted Riker's own inclinations, and that had been a source of tension between them from the very beginning. Idealists, in Riker's opinion, should never take a ship into battle.

***

"We risk the _Enterprise_ abandoning us the longer we remain here," Data felt he had to remind Yar.

"I know, Data," Yar said, her eyes and hands busy as she collected and manipulated the readings they were getting. "But this is big, bigger than anything the Klingons have attempted yet. We've got to know how many ships and how much armament they're committing or our coming here in the first place won't make any sense. We've almost got it."

Yar cast a sideways glance at her mission partner and — yes, her friend. Data knew her better than anyone. They had spent so much time together, just the two of them waiting, watching, that there was almost nothing he didn't know about her.

"Okay, Data, let's go home." She checked her pressure suit and restraints, then put out her hand to him.

He took her hand in his and asked, "Ready?"

"Ready," she confirmed, grasping his hand tightly.

***

"Captain," Ensign Wesley Crusher's young yet rock-steady voice announced, "sensors indicate — "

Picard didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence. There should only be one thing that could sneak past their long-range sensors, and if it wasn't what he thought it was they had to move, fast. "Identify. Helm, ready to move us out on my order."

"Helm, aye," Crusher confirmed, manipulating helm controls as he continued to eye the sensor readouts. "Coming into range...it's the _Cixous_ , sir. ETA 4.7 minutes."

Picard hit the comm. "Dr. Crusher to the hangar deck." He turned to Riker and ordered, "Command crew briefing thirty minutes from their ETA."

"Aye, sir."

Picard strode down to the ready room and ground out between his teeth, anger masking the fear he'd felt at the thought of losing Yar and Data, "And it had damn well better be worth it!"

***

"I'd have to recommend the _Lexington_ be warned off its current position," Yar concluded. She drew an arc into the tactical screen, which showed the projected battle plan two days hence. "If they could move even thirty degrees to the left of this arc, they and the _Yorktown_ teamed could drive a wedge into the Klingon position above Deraien star cluster." She looked to Data to continue.

"Highest probability is that they were massing into a _rhihok nor_ position," the android stated. "Second highest probability is the _qahok baph_ flight pattern. I recommend we tell the lead ships to prepare for both contingencies."

Picard considered the information only a little longer. Data's and Yar's recommendations were never discounted lightly, since they almost always coincided with Picard's own.

"Make it so," Picard said, turning away from the tactical screen. "Ensign Crusher, you will implement heading 172 mark 8, warp 6. Commander Riker, you will forward our intelligence report and recommendation to the _Lex_ — "

"I can do that, sir," Yar said quickly.

"Lieutenant, you're due for a rest period," Picard said.

"Sir, it's my duty shift on the bridge. I should — "

"Lieutenant," the captain said softly. "You and Commander Data just returned from a mission. The fact that your return coincides with your normal work schedule on the bridge does not mean I expect you to — "

"Sir, I feel I — "

"Lieutenant," he said even more softly. "Stand down." Everyone in the briefing room heard his unspoken, "That's an order."

Color rose in Yar's cheeks as she realized how her insistence must have looked to everyone. Tasha Yar, the overachiever. Yet again. "Yes, sir," she acquiesced.

Picard finished giving his orders and looked at everyone around the table. "Report to your stations. Dismissed."

Riker grinned at Yar as he rose and left. She rolled her eyes, acknowledging that the joke was on her and that she wasn't taking the reprimand to heart. Wesley Crusher gave her a sympathetic glance — both of them had an almost driven need to keep proving themselves to Picard — and she smiled at him, grateful. She turned to leave behind LaForge and Doctor Crusher.

***

The door chimed. "Enter," Yar called, and then smiled when she saw who was standing in the doorway. "Hi, Data."

"Good evening. I hope I am not disturbing you."

"Never. Come on in." She stretched her arms over her head and didn't stifle a yawn as he sat down across the repeater console from her. The light from the tactical screens she was monitoring made her look unnaturally pale — not unlike Data himself.

Yar looked at him frankly and confessed, "I can't believe I did it again today, Data. I made a fool of myself in front of the captain."

"I do not believe he considers you foolish." At her smile he added, "Overzealous, perhaps, but not foolish." Yar giggled, as Data had intended her to, and he was pleased. "You realize that if he did not regard your abilities highly, you would not be assigned to these missions."

"I know that. I just — I want to give him 110 percent, you know?"

Data nodded. "Are your projections for tomorrow's strategy session finished?" he asked.

"Almost." She indicated two report padds to her right. "I need some numbers from Commander Riker, but it's best to get them tomorrow, closer to launch. It'll change specifics, but not my overall recommendation."

Data nodded. "Then perhaps you would like to listen to a new musical tape I acquired today?"

Yar shook her head at him, her eyes bright. "Do I _look_ like I need a night off?"

He said with all seriousness, "You always need a night off."

She laughed, and Data gave her a small smile in response. "Data," she said, "sometimes you act like you think you're my — mother or something."

"Not a mother, precisely. More like a good friend."

She sat forward and grinned at him. "You're very sweet, Data."

He could think of no way to respond, but found he didn't need to as she got up from her chair. "Tell you what. I'll punch up something to eat and we can listen to that tape of yours. How's that?"

"That sounds ideal."

She went to the replicator and came away with a plate of concentrates and a glass of juice. Since Yar had given up her living area to get the repeater console in her quarters, they sat on her bed to relax. She kicked off her boots and sat cross-legged on the bed, balancing her plate on her knee. Data started the music tape and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks, Data." She ate slowly and relaxed to the music until her eyes closed, the better to hear. "Mm, that's really lovely," she said. "Where'd you get the tape?"

"Commander Riker was assembling it when I went to his quarters to ask — "

Tasha's eyes flew open and she laughed with disbelief. "You mean this is one of Will's _seduction_ tapes?"

Data frowned, accessing his memory. "He did not describe it as such. He called it one in an ongoing series of music tapes to relax to, where he arranges various compositions — " Data stopped, remembering, "But when he handed me a copy, he wished me luck. The comment seemed cryptic at the time — "

"Oh, Data!" she laughed.

"I was not aware of the wide knowledge regarding Commander Riker's choice in music," Data said, sounding more apologetic than defensive.

"Of course not. But the female crew have been talking about it for a while now." Tasha handed her plate to Data and he placed it on the floor.

"I see." Then, "Does it work?" he asked, curious.

She finished her juice. "Does what work?"

"Does the music tape work?" He took her empty glass and bent to set it on top of the plate.

"I don't think Will would still be making them if they didn't."

He straightened and looked at her. "I meant, is it working on you?"

Tasha thought, then observed clinically, "I _do_ feel very relaxed. As if I'd like nothing better than to sit here with you for the rest of the night. But in terms of seduction, I don't think the music alone does the trick — I think there has to be active participation on the seducer's part."

Data acknowledged the comment by stroking a finger lightly across Tasha's cheek.

"Data!" Tasha said, incredulous.

"Yes, Tasha?" he asked, his voice soft, not the matter-of-fact tone he usually used.

She blurted out the first coherent thing that occurred to her. "Is this an experiment in Human behavior?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," he said with typical bluntness, although his voice was still soft as he looked at her. "I can perform sexually, and have done so on occasion in the past. However, in all my research regarding Human behavior, I have come to the conclusion that the sexual function is deemed most satisfactory when it is performed between two people who care deeply for each other — "

"I've heard of that, too," Tasha whispered. Her face went pale as she suddenly realized that where she'd been born and how she'd grown up had so influenced her relationships with men that the joy of "making love" was, just as it was for Data, only a report, a rumor, not something she had ever experienced for herself.

"Tasha, are you all right?" the android asked quickly, noticing the change in her complexion.

She tried to put a laugh in her voice as she said, "You know, I've never — made love in a bed." At his puzzled expression she went on recklessly, "In alleys, tunnels, up against a wall, face down in the dirt, but not once — "

"Then that was not, as I understand the term, 'making love,'" he told her quietly.

Suddenly she couldn't stand his solicitous gaze and she leaped off the bed, pacing, her arms wrapped tight around herself. She was shaking.

_Control, Tasha!_

She stood still, her back to him, trying to collect herself. Why now, years after the last time someone had ever touched her in that way, when she had determined to ignore her past, was it affecting her so badly? Why was it coming back to haunt her?

"It's over," she told herself softly.

"Is it?" Data asked.

She didn't turn. "Well, when will it be?" she demanded, making her voice harsh to mask how unsteady it was. "What do I have to do? I leave the only home I've ever known, I become a chief tactical officer on the Federation's premier battleship, I risk my life on recon missions, I — "

Her throat closed up suddenly and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears to go away.

"Tasha?" the android asked.

She shook her head. "You know," she said, her voice cracking but suddenly she didn't care, "in all the time I was at the Academy, all I wanted was a friend to talk to about what happened to me. Just someone to listen, and to tell me I was okay. But I had no time for friends." She turned around, still hugging herself tight, and looked at Data. "I'd imagine what my friend would be like, and sometimes it's like I can almost see her. She'd have long dark hair, and wide dark eyes, and she'd be calm and understanding and she'd listen and she'd accept me even after I told her — " Tears escaped her and she started to cry.

Data's gentle voice reached out to her. "What would you tell her?"

Tasha tried to blink her tears away so she could see the android's face. She knew instinctively that trusting Data now would take more courage than it had to trust him with her mere physical life and she swiped quickly at her eyes.

Data came into sharp, clear focus. His yellow eyes seemed almost liquid as he gazed at her, taking in everything about her. He was calm. Accepting. Her heart leapt — she didn't need an imaginary friend, her friend was sitting right there, ready to understand no matter what she told him.

And in a rush she did, how the pressing weight of man on top of her sent her into a terrifying, blinding panic. How a tongue in her mouth had been an ugly, heavy, lolling thing that made her gag with disgust. How her body had never been a source of pleasure or pride for her, how she had never been caressed but bit and gouged and punched and beaten until she'd screamed, cried, thrown up and still they'd held her down and violated her, laughed at her —

" — and I just wished for death," she whispered, "anything that would stop it from happening again because I couldn't live like that for single second more."

The android went to her and she blindly threw her arms around him, trying to stop shaking, her breath sounding like sobs even though she had stopped crying.

"Tasha," he murmured, holding her close, "that is in the past. You left all that behind you."

Her breathing gradually calmed and, still clinging to him, she let him lead her back to the bed and they sat down.

He took her unsteady hands in his and looked at her. "I would never hurt you, Tasha," he told her, acknowledging simultaneously his acceptance of her past and how much their friendship mattered to him.

"I know," she said softly, then looked into his yellow eyes. "I mean that. I _know_ you wouldn't hurt me, Data. I — trust you."

"Perhaps it is because I am an android, and not a man, that you trust me," he suggested.

She shook her head, confused. "What?"

"You are uncomfortable in the presence of men because of what happened in your past. The women with whom I have previously been intimate seemed to believe that being an android precluded being a man, therefore — "

She frowned, wondering at his uncertainty. "You're not Human, but you _are_ a man, Data," she told him with quiet earnestness. "And I trust you because you've earned my trust. Because we're friends."

Tasha looked down at their joined hands and she suddenly remembered what they'd been talking about before. "Data," she said, "you were saying that sex was best when two people who cared deeply for each other did it." She searched his unnaturally pale face. "Do you care for me that much?"

"Yes," he said simply. "For a mere experiment in Human behavior, any Human would do. But you are not 'any Human.' You are — special to me, Tasha."

Her cheeks flushed at his admission but she smiled, pleased. She realized she wanted to feel what it was like to make love without pain, without fear, and if there was anyone she trusted to test this particular theory with, it was Data. But she felt she had to say before they went any further, "You know, I'm not in love with you."

He nodded. "I realize this. And I cannot be in love with you. But I believe what we feel for each other is enough."

She nodded, feeling awkward, then confessed, "I don't — I don't even know how to kiss, Data!"

"I was programmed with that knowledge and with multiple techniques of sexual pleasuring. But I believe that for Humans, such behavior comes instinctively, if you relax," he assured her.

He released her hands and touched her face lightly. As he examined her face, Tasha looked in the android's eyes and found an innocent curiosity there, and an admiration of what he saw. She looked at him closely in turn, as if seeing for the first time his gold eyes, his pale eyebrows and lashes, his long straight nose and thin lips.

She realized how close their faces were when he leaned forward only slightly and brushed his lips against her forehead. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself as she felt his breath against her temple just before he kissed her there.

Data's kisses were gentle, unthreatening, and she gradually relaxed as his lips touched her, feather-soft, all over her face. When he finally tipped her chin up and kissed her mouth, she kept her lips steady and matched his pressure with hers.

He pulled away and nodded slightly, approving. "For a novice, that was not a poor first attempt." She giggled, self-conscious, then he held her face in his hands and kissed her again and she kissed him back. After a while the action of kissing became familiar, and she felt as if she could spend the rest of the evening simply feeling Data's lips on hers, his even breathing against her face, inhaling the scent of him.

But his gentle kisses and light caresses evoked a response from her and she began to touch him, tentatively at first, then with a sense of urgency as he almost imperceptibly aroused her even more. 

He bent and kissed the side of her neck and she realized she hadn’t been breathing as, her mouth free, she gasped for air. He nuzzled her sensitive throat, pressing kisses against her fast-beating pulse.

“Data — ”

“Yes, Tasha?” he asked, raising his head to look at her.

She swallowed. “That feels so good,” she whispered, a hand going to her neck as if she couldn’t believe how he’d made her feel.

She leaned close and kissed the android just under his ear, wanting him to feel what she had. He tilted his head back to accommodate her as she kissed and nuzzled him tenderly across his throat to his other ear and then she just pressed her face against the side of his neck, rubbing her nose against him, smiling at his smell, his feel.

She felt more than heard a sigh deep in his throat. “That does feel most pleasurable,” he murmured aloud, and turned his head and met her lips with his. Each kiss gradually lengthened, and the slight movements of Data’s mouth against hers made her hands move to his shoulders, and then to the back of his neck, unconsciously wanting to deepen their kisses as she started to become aroused.

Her hands went to the fastening of his jacket, fumbling with it until she could slip her hands inside. Then, realizing what she had done, she jerked back and looked at him, surprised.

"I'm sorry — !"

"Do not be," he said, and when he'd taken off his jacket and undertunic she drew a deep breath and put a hand out to him. She touched warm skin, and, curious, she traced the lines of his well-muscled chest, lightly brushed the pale hair there, trailed her fingertips along his collarbone.

She admitted in a whisper, "I've never — never really looked at — or touched — when they — "

Data kissed her lightly, reassuringly, wanting to forestall her memories. "I must admit to some interest regarding your musculature as well," he told her, and was rewarded with her bright smile. They stood to undress and then regarded each other.

"You're beautiful, Data," she breathed. Then she looked at the android, suddenly fearful of his opinion of her body when he had seen and touched so many others.

"And you are exquisite, Tasha," he told her softly but with absolute certainty. She bit her lip, relieved and at the same time affected by his simple assessment.

He drew her close and kissed her. She stiffened only briefly as their bare skin touched, then she surrendered to the feeling, her arms wrapping tight around him to press him as close as possible to her, wanting his warmth, his safety, wanting him to guide her through what she had never experienced before — the feel of her body coming alive under a lover's touch.

Data caressed her back and sides with slow, sensuous strokes, his mouth describing a hot, wet trail along Tasha’s ear, tonguing its inner curve, sucking gently on her lobe, and she arched against him in response. His hands traced the sides of her breasts and she suddenly gasped.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I — I want you to touch me there, please?” she asked, her voice unsteady as she looked at him, not sure if it was normal for her to desire such a thing, she had never been excited before by someone touching her breasts but she felt now that if he didn’t touch them she would just explode, shatter, cry — 

His mouth covered hers as he gently fondled her breasts. His palms brushed against her nipples and she froze as the sensation traveled straight down between her legs so suddenly it almost felt like pain. But then she realized she could feel herself becoming wet and she gave in to desire, her hands kneading his back and her eyes shutting tight as she felt his fingers moving across her breasts, making her nipples harden and her body ache with need.

Data caressed her throat and shoulders with his mouth and he was gratified to hear a moan escape her. Then he lowered her until she lay back on the bed and, positioning himself carefully so she wouldn’t feel his weight on her, explored first one breast and then the other, concentrating on each with his lips and tongue as if it was the only thing that existed for him. Tasha’s trembling hands ran through his hair, urging him on.

The warm wetness of Data’s mouth gradually moved lower, lavishing attention on her torso, and Tasha sighed contentedly. The android moved lower, kissing her stomach, then her hips. He gently parted her thighs, kissing his way deeper into her. She opened her legs wider and his long, straight nose nuzzled her erect clitoris.

She inhaled sharply and, almost in reflex, her hand reached down to his face, wanting to find for herself what he had touched. He kissed her searching fingers, then guided her hand to her clitoris, resting her fingertips against it. She stroked it gingerly and was surprised to find that she could create the same electric sensations he had, merely by touching herself. She ran her fingers up the sides of her clitoris to her pubic hair, then back down again and, encountering her own wetness, she drew back.

He took her hand and lightly licked her fingers clean, then kissed the delicate skin of her inner wrist and set her hand aside. He bent his head and kissed the thatch of dark blonde hair at the top of her thighs, his hands moving beneath her to cup her buttocks and lift her to his lips. He inhaled her scent deeply, and then he pressed his face to her vulva.

Tasha gasped for air as the sensations overwhelmed her. Data insistently tongued her, kissed her, sucked and laved her. She was sure there was no part of her sex he hadn’t touched by the time he concentrated on her clitoris, his nose and chin rubbing against it as his tongue alternately probed her vagina and flicked like a sudden sharp stab of pleasure against her hardened nub over and over and over — 

She held her breath, feeling something building inside her. She balled her hands into tight fists, closed her eyes, concentrating — was that it? Was that? She sobbed once in frustration, straining against the android as he massaged her buttocks and buried his face deeper into her, inhaling her, drinking her, his touch steady but faster now, faster . . .

Her stomach contracted as she exhaled suddenly, crying his name, her whole body quivering with release. But she felt herself spiraling even higher, tension building unbearably as Data continued to make her come. Her hands moved restlessly over her twisting body, trying to contain the sensations even as every part of her moved towards another release, and then another — wave after wave of pure pleasure washed over her, overpowered her until Data finally took pity on her and his gentle kisses against her sex brought her back to reality.

He helped her underneath the bedcovers and, smoothing her hair back from her face, asked softly, “How do you feel?” 

The incongruity of his solemn expression and her wetness on his face made her want to giggle, but when she could get her breath back, she answered him honestly, “Shaky.” She gulped in air, tried again, “Wonderful.” She smiled tiredly at him. “I — I’ve never felt — how do I say thank you?” She kissed him gratefully, tasting herself on his mouth.

She touched his cheek fondly, then with more purpose she wiped her juices off his face. “Did I do this?” she managed to tease.

“There is no one else here,” he pointed out with a small smile.

Wondering what to do with her wet fingers, she looked down and then covered one of his nipples with her wetness. She brought her hand back to his face and repeated the process, coating his other nipple, then she slid down, pushing the covers away and kissing his chest. Remembering how he had touched her breasts, she used the tip of her tongue to trace the outline of her juices. She heard his sharp intake of breath and hesitated.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked quickly, looking up at him.

He looked back at her, his eyes glowing. “No. The sensation is unique, but it is also agreeable.” He caressed her hair. “Please, proceed.”

Tasha turned her attention back to him, stroking his arms and torso and back as her mouth moved all over his chest, gradually circling closer and closer to his nipples, then she flicked her tongue lightly against them until they hardened. She could feel Data breathing more unevenly and she took her time, suckling like a hungry child, wanting to pleasure him at the same time that she enjoyed the feel of him and what she was doing.

She lifted her face to him and before she could say anything his mouth was on hers, kissing her with an intensity that blocked everything else from her senses except him. She writhed against him, caressing him with her whole body. Nothing existed for long moments except mouths and fingers and trembling hands and arms, hot, sweaty skin and incoherent sounds as they explored each other impatiently, urgently. 

Tasha’s whole body was eager to yield to Data’s. It would have been so easy to take her, but the android forced himself to pull away, wanting the choice to be hers. His voice lowered as he said carefully, “You must tell me what you want, Tasha.”

“I want you,” she whispered.

“Are you certain?” he asked, and Tasha instinctively knew that there was more than confirmation behind the android’s question.

She looked deep into his yellow eyes, wanting to assuage the uncertainty there. “I want to pleasure you, Data. I want to touch you all over — ” Her restless hands told the truth of her statement. “ — and feel you, and — I’m aching Data, I want you inside me — ” She ran out of words and kissed him deeply, pulling him tight to her. He surrendered to her ardor, drawing her on top of him as he returned her kiss.

She raised herself up on her arms, trying to balance herself above him. He lifted his face, letting her dangling breasts caress his cheeks and forehead, then he reached out his tongue to capture one of her nipples. He finally managed to sip one into his mouth as his hand cupped her other breast, teasing the nipple between thumb and forefinger. He heard her sharp intake of breath as she sank fully onto his penis, his pleasuring of her breasts allowing him to enter her before she’d even had a chance to tense at the penetration.

Not wanting to let her go, he sat up and took her with him, balancing her astride his hips, caressing the curve of her back and pressing her to him as he hungrily played with her breasts.

“Data — ” she gasped.

His breath caught as she squeezed the length of his penis inside her.

“...so good — !” she moaned, her hands in his hair, then kneading his shoulders as she started to rock back and forth in his lap.

He lifted Tasha and couldn’t help a groan as her hips moved anxiously, not wanting to lose him, and he sank into her again and felt her grasping him tightly even as he withdrew once more. She was making it harder to find the rhythm to their lovemaking with her actions, he knew, but he gladly relinquished his programmed efficiency to her instinctive desires. Her hands squeezed his buttocks, trying to keep him inside her as her hips ground against him. The eager movement of her body gradually matched his until they moved together, her hands sliding over his shoulders and down his back as she rose and fell against him.

A part of him was surprised at how much he wanted this, needed this as his hips moved under her, but soon all of his consciousness narrowed to pure sensation, the taste of her sweaty skin, the sound of her soft panting cries, the smell of her full arousal, the feel of — the feel — 

She was sobbing, and he realized how close he was to his own release as he felt hers, felt her stiffen and arch unbearably and felt the steady strong throb of her vagina around his penis. He reached up, kissing the hollow at the base of her neck and she curled tight against him just as suddenly as she’d arched away from him in orgasm. He pressed longing kisses against the curve of her throat as he grasped her hips and moved her rapidly up and down the length of his penis and he heard her cry out with another orgasm as he thrust up into her one last time and came.

She collapsed against him, breathless, trembling, her face buried in his hair. He eased them both back until they were lying side by side. Their noses touched, and then their foreheads as she relaxed even more against him, trying to catch her breath.

He waited for her to stiffen and pull away from him, perhaps when she had steadied herself. Gradually her breathing evened but when she still didn’t move away he asked solicitously, “Would you like me to leave?”

She looked at him, her blue eyes suddenly troubled. “Is that what happens next?” she asked in a small voice, and now she moved away from him, a slight movement that nevertheless left him suddenly chilled and he rapidly adjusted his thermal regulators to compensate for the heat of her body.

“In all of my past experiences, after I had utilized my sexual programming, I was asked, or told, to leave, and I did so, filing away the experience for later analysis.” He offered, “Do you wish me to leave?”

“Do you want to leave?” she countered anxiously. “I know you don’t sleep, Data. If you have something else to do, I don’t want — ”

He gave her a sudden small smile. “We are trying to accommodate each other, without either of us stating what our preference is.”

“Do you have something else to do, Data?”

“Yes. As do you. The question, however, concerns your preference.”

She looked down as she confessed, “I want you to stay. But if you — ”

“I wish to stay, Tasha.”

They met each other’s gaze, hers questioning, his confirming, and she finally smiled at him. “Stay, Data. It shouldn’t be over yet. It’s nice just like this.”

“Yes, it is.”

They embraced and he pulled the covers up, keeping their warmth safe inside with them. “Rest, Tasha.”

“Whose fault is it I’m tired?” she joked, but closed her eyes.

After a while Data moved underneath the covers to press his cheek against Tasha’s chest, listening to her heartbeat, enjoying the darkness, the damp warmth, the heady, musky smell of her sated and relaxed. He closed his eyes and let his mouth wander, caressing lightly as he went. Eventually he found a velvety nipple and took it between his lips, its softness, its texture, even its taste different from the other times that evening he had closed his mouth over it. He took his time and savored it before he slowly aroused it to erectness again. Then he turned his attention to her other nipple, repeating the prolonged teasing until he felt her writhe against him, her hands grasping his shoulders as her breath quickened.

The android had been careful not to do anything with Tasha that might remind her of the hurtful actions of her past sexual experiences, but as he moved back up until their faces were even he found he wanted to share with her the pleasure of a French kiss.

He traced her lips with the tip of his tongue and her lips instinctively parted in response. He kissed her, caressing her lips with his until they parted farther, then he gently touched her tongue with his. His tentative exploration of her mouth aroused her unbearably, and her hands went to his face as she tried to imitate him. Tasha’s body barely moved as she absorbed his lesson, her hands tangled in his hair and her eyes closed tight. Then she began to move against him and she murmured anxiously between kisses, “Do you want to make love again?”

“Do you wish to?” he asked.

“Mm-hm. But — could you do all the work this time?”

He smiled a small smile. “If you insist.”

“Please,” she whispered.

Her legs parted for him as he positioned himself above her and then he slowly entered her. Her head dropped back against the pillow, baring her throat as she sighed at the feel of him inside her. He bent and kissed her neck tenderly, then raised his head as she opened her eyes and looked at him. He stroked in and out of her with deliberate care, only their breathing interrupting the liquid sound of their lovemaking.

They continued that way, slowly, almost leisurely, feeling everything until the sensations built in intensity and Tasha pulled Data’s face down to hers and opened her mouth to him, embracing him tight.

With her arms wrapped around him and her legs caressing him, she offered all of herself to him and at the same time held him in every way she possibly could — on her, against her, inside her. He had never been physically closer to anyone and he closed his eyes as Humans did and returned her kiss, yearning to experience their lovemaking as a Human.

He slipped his arms beneath her knees, bringing her legs up and opening her wider, and sank as deep as he could into her, wanting to give her everything of him he could. She gasped, “Oh, Data — !”

“Tasha!” he said, suddenly afraid he had penetrated too deeply and was hurting her.

Her eyes closed and she smiled, exhaling shakily. “Yes,” she whispered, moving against him again, her hips rising to meet his thrusts. “Yes Data, yes — !”

Her whimpers quieted as she drew breath for her climax and Data kissed her mouth open, taking her cries into him as she came, wanting to keep everything she could give safe inside him. And as she explored his mouth with her tongue, her vagina spasmed around his penis and he came, too, without mentally triggering an orgasm, without any conscious will at all, and his groan of surprise, as well as his own cries of release, were taken deep into Tasha’s being.

Their kisses gradually grew soft and tender, and then they simply looked into each other's eyes, amazed at each other and themselves. Finally, Tasha asked in a shy voice, "Was it different for you this time, Data?"

"It was indeed different."

She regarded him, curious. "How?"

"I desired you, Tasha," he said, brushing her damp hair, tendril by tendril, back from her face. "And I did not think that was possible, since I have never desired anyone before."

She frowned, not understanding. "But Data, you've been with — "

"My physiology guarantees a sexual climax no matter how little effort is expended in pleasuring me. I need not be aroused or even feel desire, so my past intimacies consisted of using my programming to satisfy my partner, and little more."

"Data!" she said, clearly dismayed for him.

He shook his head. "But this time I wanted very much to pleasure you, and you received what I had to give and you pleasured me in return." His finger lightly caressed the side of her neck. "This time I was aroused, and enjoyed the sensation." His finger traveled to her pale shoulder, tracing back and forth. "And this time I desired you so much, Tasha."

"Did you enjoy pleasuring me? Did you — enjoy touching me?"

He said thoughtfully, "Pleasuring someone sexually was simply another program that I could activate at will, having nothing to do with my enjoying or not enjoying the act itself. This time, with you — " He looked deep into her eyes. "I enjoy knowing you are experiencing pleasure because of my actions." He ran his hand along her arm, feeling the silken skin, the fine hairs, the lean muscles there. "I enjoyed, and enjoy, touching you very much."

Her smile was radiant as she told him, "I enjoyed it, too, Data. I've never felt good about my body, but I felt so much pleasure and — you made me feel beautiful — "

"You are considered beautiful by many of your crewmates," he told her.

"But you're the one who convinced me, Data. You — didn't hurt me. You wanted me." She impulsively hugged him, then as she released him began to rub her hand up and down his back.

"That feels most pleasurable," he murmured. She suddenly giggled, and he looked at her. "Have I said something amusing?" he asked hopefully.

"No. I just thought of something, that's all." She explained, still rubbing his back, "I realized I was petting you like I used to pet this cat, an orange tabby. When I was growing up, it was my only friend."

"And such an action continues to be a mark of affection you bestow on your friends?"

She grinned at him. "Are you teasing me?

"Only if you believe I am," he said, his yellow eyes solemn.

She put her other arm around him and hugged him tight. "Oh, Data!" She laughed genuinely, with no reserve, and he smiled at the sound.

"Tasha." He said her name softly.

"What?" she asked, still grinning. He kissed her lightly, with incredible tenderness. She looked him, surprised and touched. "What is it?" she asked again, her whispered tone matching his.

"I like to hear you laugh. You sound so relaxed."

"I am." She looked at him, and the trust between them, unspoken, was palpable all the same. She had trusted him utterly, had given herself to him despite every good reservation her past had given her, and he had proven her trust.

And she had, oddly enough, proven his. He was an android, not Human at all, and yet she had treated him, responded to him, accepted him as if he were Human. He had never confessed to any of his sexual partners his dream of being Human. And, not even having admitted it to Tasha, she had given him the greatest gift she possibly could have: she hadn't demanded to know the limits of his sexual functions, hadn't tested his endurances — what had happened between them had nothing to do with his programming at all, and everything to do with two people discovering each other's bodies, each other's desires, and how much they cared for each other.

"Data," she sighed, her eyes closing.

Not sure if she was asking for information, he answered, "I am here."

She smiled in her sleep and said contentedly, "Mmm."

He held her close and watched her.

***

Tasha stood and ate her concentrates as she scanned the night watch's log entries and status records. "...and it looks like engineering needs to run another diagnostic, they're still showing that Wasserman line dual flux in section 23-F."

Data came over and looked at her repeater screens. "I will discuss possible ways to address the problem with Geordi at the engineering staff briefing today."

She put down her plate and then for the first time looked at Data. "Ever hear of this thing called a comb?" she teased, taking in the android's disheveled hair.

"Yes. I use one every day. However, I do not know where you keep yours."

She walked over to her dresser and pulled one out of a drawer. "Here, let me," she said, taking the comb and slicking Data's hair back for him, following each pass of the comb with a light caress of her hand. "Like that, right?" They both turned to look in the mirror.

"Yes, that is correct. Thank you, Tasha."

"Kind of boring, isn't it?"

The android frowned at their reflection, considering. "This hairstyle suits me, as it is the most utilitarian. It is also by far the most common hairstyle for males aboard the _Enterprise_ , and who am I, an android, to go against a majority decision in taste?"

She grinned, suddenly feeling playful. "Well, I guess I can't go against the majority either, can I?" She pulled the comb straight back through her own hair and imitated his hairstyle.

He hesitated. "I am not persuaded of such a style's aesthetic compatibility on you. You are not — utilitarian."

"Well, neither are you, Data. Just humor me and let me conform for one day, okay?"

"Please wait, Tasha." Data took the comb from her and softened the hair near her face, making the line less severe. He considered her critically, then stated, "It is better."

"I'm glad you approve." She patted his cheek.

They attached their phaser sashes and communicators to their uniforms, then walked out of Tasha's quarters and into the turbolift.

As the lift neared the bridge and began to slow, Tasha suddenly squeezed Data's hand, grinning. "Ready?" she teased.

He squeezed her hand back and nodded. "Ready," he said. She laughed and released his hand, and the doors opened and they walked onto the bridge together.

***

Riker watched Yar out of the corner of his eye as she quickly assessed the situation and relayed the information the captain needed to make a decision. She was as efficient as she'd ever been, but something was slightly different. Riker regretted that he didn't have the opportunity to observe her frankly, but Yar seemed more relaxed standing next to him, didn't hold herself so distant, seemed to be comfortable sharing her personal space with him.

Her voice was more modulated, too, not as excited or angry as it had been when she'd first come aboard. She wasn't nervous. She was more sure of herself.

When she left the bridge on break he went with her, and as he talked to her over the noise and bustle of Ten Forward, he was fascinated by the subtle change in Yar. She was responsive to his mild flirting and even flirted a little back. It seemed as if, for the first time since she'd come aboard, Lieutenant Yar was emotionally available. When they had to return to duty he asked,

"Do you want to have dinner together?"

"How about tomorrow?" She smiled, and Riker knew it wasn't a rejection. "I have plans tonight."

"All right. Tomorrow."

***

Data was playing his violin when the door buzzed. "Enter," he called.

Tasha stood in the doorway. "Hi, Data." As he lowered his violin she said, "Don't stop playing — I just came by to visit."

"I am pleased to see you," he said, gesturing for her to come inside. She smiled and moved into the room. "I know you're busy, Data, but if you don't mind the company, I'd like to stay for a while. I can do some work over here while you play, and then we can talk afterwards, if you like."

"That is agreeable to me."

She sat on the sofa and started working on her compupadd. Data tucked his violin into position and began from the beginning.

When he finished the movement with a flourish he looked over at her. She was smiling at him, and she patted the space beside her on the sofa. He put his violin and bow away and sat down. "Did you wish to talk about anything in particular, Tasha?"

"Yes. I..." She hesitated, and then decided to plunge ahead. "Data, sometimes Humans can act strangely after making love, and I just want you to know that nothing's changed between us. I value your friendship so much. I mean — " She frowned, looking for words, then looked earnestly at him. "Making love was — incredible. But I think even more than the sex, I liked just being that close to you. I've never trusted anyone the way I trust you, Data, and when I was with you last night, for the first time I felt...like someone really trusted _me_."

He tilted his head slightly as he regarded her. "I believe I experienced a similar reaction to our intimacy. I do not wish to for our friendship to change, either."

She smiled at him, and then impulsively leaned forward and kissed him. His mouth softened against hers, returning the kiss sweetly. Her arms wound around his neck and they continued to kiss, and affection and tenderness gradually became something more insistent.

"I have no bed in my quarters," he murmured between kisses. She nodded. After a few more kisses he added in all seriousness, "The desk chair does, however, recline."

Tasha stared at him, and then burst into laughter. At his hopeful expression she assured him, "Yes, Data, that was funny as hell!" He managed to look puzzled and proud at the same time and his expression suddenly made Tasha realize just how special he'd become to her. She gently traced his mouth with a fingertip and said softly, "Oh, Data." Then mischief lit her eyes as she said, "I think we can make do with the sofa, don't you...?"

***

"Lieutenant," Picard said suddenly, and Yar turned from the readouts on the time-displacement phenomenon back to her tactical station. "What are their sensor readings? Is that an enemy vessel?" he demanded.

"I'm getting too much interference, Captain," she murmured, her fingers making hairline adjustments in rapid combinations, as Data had taught her to do, trying to refine the readings even as she answered him. Finally she said, "Clearing now, Captain. Definitely a Federation starship." She turned her attention to a different panel. "Accessing registry."

Riker, who had watched Yar's performance with approval, now turned his attention to the forward viewing screen. "Looks like they've had a rough ride," he commented.

Yar read off, "NCC one-seven-oh-one...C." Picard turned, but Yar was looking with disbelief at the forward screen. "U.S.S. — _Enterprise_ ," she breathed.

***

She and Data boarded the lift, and the android requested, "Engineering." The lift didn't move. He turned to Yar and asked, "Is Engineering your destination as well?"

"What?" She turned, saw that the lift was holding and that Data was politely waiting for her. "Oh. Deck 6," she requested. She smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry."

Data was about to face forward again, but something about her countenance made him turn to her. He ventured gently, "If I interpret your facial expression correctly, you are preoccupied with something...unpleasant."

"No." She turned to face him. "I was just thinking. About a lot of things." She hesitated, then sighed and confessed, "I've been working with one of the officers on the _Enterprise_ C." Her face lit up as she smiled and admitted, "He — he's nice, I like him. I'm worried about what's going to happen to him."

Data tried to say what was honest in as mild a way as possible. "We may never know what happens," he told her, his flat gold eyes somehow conveying sympathy for her feelings. "If they succeed, we will not even realize these events have occurred."

***

Data stopped in his quarters on his way from Engineering to the Bridge, but the door buzzed just as he was about to leave. "Enter," he called.

"Hi, Data." The door closed behind the security chief.

"Tasha," he greeted, moving towards her.

"Data, I — I'm transferring to the _Enterprise_ C. I wanted to say goodbye," she told him in a rush, trying to get past her emotion to say what she had to.

"Why are you transferring to the _Enterprise_ C?" he asked. His voice wasn't accusing or incredulous, but neutral, seeking information and trying to understand her orders, and his tone steeled her nerves and calmed her. She told him how their conversation in the turbolift and watching Lieutenant Castillo return to his ship had led to her talk with Guinan, and then to ask for the transfer.

Seeing she was agitated, he led her to the sofa and they both sat down. "Are you in love with Lieutenant Castillo?" he asked gently.

She answered honestly, "I don't know, Data. What I feel for him is different from what I feel for you, that's all I really know. Lieutenant Castillo — Richard — we hardly know each other, we even come from two different times, but...I care for him. I'm attracted to him."

She went on, "You know I love you, Data, more than I've ever loved anyone. We've known each other for so long. And when I'm with you, I'm more myself than at any other time, I can — say things, do things I couldn't otherwise, because you accept me for who I am. I'm not nervous or scared around you. But Richard makes me a little nervous. Not in a bad way. It's kind of — I feel — tingly around him." She shook her head, embarrassed. "That sounds stupid."

"It is not stupid if it is accurate," Data told her, and she smiled, grateful.

"You know how intense I can be when I get caught up in something. We were standing in Ten Forward and I was telling him about defensive upgrades since the _Enterprise_ C was commissioned and...I called him 'lieutenant' and he looked at me, and he was kind of shy and he smiled and he offered not to salute if I didn't. And that was kind of funny, you know, and for the first time I really looked at him. And I knew he liked me. Even though I'd been talking tech at him for 24 hours straight, he liked me."

She looked at the android and sighed. "Oh, Data, I don't know, I just feel — uncertain. But when I'm with you, I'm so certain, so confident."

"It is a most intriguing dichotomy," the android commented.

"In any case, how I feel about Richard — in love or not — isn't the reason I requested a transfer. I'm not fooling myself into thinking that by joining his ship, I can pursue a relationship with him. I'm going because it's what's best for the Federation, not because it's what's best for me or Richard. I think that with my defensive and tactical knowledge I might buy the _Enterprise_ C some time, and that might make everything right for the rest of you."

"If you make everything right for us, you will die," he pointed out in a voice so soft she reached out and took his hands in hers.

"We could have died on any one of those missions but we kept going out because of the good of the Federation, because we might be able to save a few lives, make a dent in the Klingon defenses. That's all I'm doing now. The fact that it might bring you a better life — pleases me. So much." She touched his face gently. "You deserve so much."

"Guinan told you that you and she were not even supposed to know each other because you died a senseless death in the other timeline. Does that mean that, in the other timeline, we never meet either?" Data wondered aloud.

She looked down. "I don't know. I can't imagine — " Her voice caught, and she leaned forward, resting her forehead against his, her eyes closed. "What kind of person would I have been without you, Data, unable to trust, unable to open myself up, unable to love? You've taught me so much, given me so much. If it weren't for you I wouldn't feel secure enough to take a chance like this. Before your 'civilizing influence,' Data, I might have done this for all the wrong reasons — to prove myself, because I was acting before I was thinking, because I didn't want someone to one-up me in the honor and courage department — — whatever. But I know I don't have to prove anything to anyone, and I can do something simply because I know it's the right thing to do."

"You have taught me much as well, Tasha. How to interact with Humans, the things that smooth social contact. What friendship and caring and love mean. The difference between 'exercising my sexual function' and 'making love' — "

She smiled and moved a little away so she could look at him. "Data, you're just a sentimental old slob."

"Sentimental old — "

"But so am I." Her eyes searched his face, trying to impress on her mind every detail of it. Then she stood up abruptly, unfastening her silver officer's phaser sash. "I can't take anything with me, you know how little I have anyway — " He stood as well, and Tasha held out her sash. "Data, it meant so much to me when I earned the right to wear this. I'd like you to have it. Please." She threw her arms around him. "Oh, Data, I won't ever forget you," she whispered fiercely.

"I _cannot_ forget you, Tasha," he whispered back, embracing her close. "And I would not have it any other way."

They kissed, hesitantly at first, and then tenderly, saying goodbye, understanding exactly what each was about to do.

"Ready, Data?" she said softly.

"Ready, Tasha." She stepped out of his arms and was gone.

Her sash was still warm from her waist as Data held it in his hand. He adjusted it, took off his own sash and fastened hers around his waist. Then he walked out of his quarters and made his way to the bridge.

**_FIN_ **


End file.
